001We're we're going to call this board of education meeting to order at 7:04. Welcome everybody. Uh Lisa is joining us in place of our other Lisa today. So I'll pass it over to Lisa to do a roll call. Thank you, Lisa. Agenda. Are there is there anything? I don't have any additions or deletions. Anyone see any issues with the agenda? If not, we can approve the agenda for a motion to approve in that case. Thank you, Mr. Zoski. seconded by Mr. Schuman. Thanks very much. Um, under correspondence, we did have one correspondence sent to us and I I'll let Dr. Machri describe the correspondence and next steps. Is that okay? >> Sure. >> Um, so Lisa Hicks did forward this to everyone. We did get a a letter from a student um Keegan um just
002explaining uh that he's noticed the fences around the high school fields where they play routinely are being um sprayed with p pesticides and he is concerned about the pesticides that we use and he is um urging the board of education to think about a transition to an or organic or um natural weeding killing program. So, we actually do have a policy on this. Um, and we I'm going to just quickly invite Claudio Bazano because he probably could do a much quicker job to fill you in on what's happening currently and what it would take to switch. And even if we could, would that be in the best interest? >> Good evening. Um, we we do have a herbicide and pesticide policy in the district. Um the state allows us to use herbicides on the fields
003only in high schools. We're not allowed to use them at elementary school any grade below um 9th grade. So we do not use any of that in any of the other fields. Um we don't use pesticides. If we ha we have a program in place that um if you're interested to know when and if we use pesticides, you sign up and we would send out an email with the information. Um and that is available to anyone in case they're concerned about their children on the fields after a pesticide application or herbicide application. Um, we we're looking into a more organic system, but I know for a fact that it's probably somewhere around three to four times as expensive as regular and it's not as effective. Um, so we're going to do some research to see
004if we could replace this the herbicides that we're using with something more organic and what the cost would be, what the cost implications, and that'll be up to the board or someone else to decide whether we want to change to that direction. But as we have information, we'll share with everyone. Obviously, this is winter season. We're not doing any herbicides or pesticides application at this time. Claudia, just remind me again. The town puts it down for us. We pay for it. >> The town >> or do we share the cost of the >> No, we pay for it >> and they >> But they're they run the process. They have the contact with um with the chemical company that applies the application and they arrange for it and then Bill is forwarded to us. Um
005because this covers the town uses our fields also. Um not just our students and again this is only at the high school. We do not do any of this at the elementary levels. >> Thank you, Mr. Rosano. That's much appreciated. And maybe we can circle back, have the students principal just circle back and share that information if he's not listening tonight just so he can get >> No problem. >> Thank you. >> We'll do. Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks very much. >> Welcome. >> Okay. We have no other correspondents. So, we will move on to public comments. Are there any public comments? Okay, seeing none, we're going to move on to some celebrations. This is always so much fun. We are celebrating our faculty and staff, and I think Dr. McClean's going to introduce our
006um folks that we're celebrating tonight. Let's have Amy and Julie and Erica and Christa and Sarah come on up. So, I did write down comments today because I could probably talk about them all night, but I wanted to make sure I got in what I wanted to say and that I was concise. Um, tonight I have the distinct honor of recognizing our instructional leadership team. We call it the ILT. the team whose work is a lynch pin for the instructional success of Cromwell public schools. This instructional leadership team works in the background but makes all the magic happen. We had an enormous amount of success this year districtwide and it's the work of this team that was integral to make that happen. I'm truly blessed to work with educators of this caliber and I want
007to bring the work that they do to light because they have a very difficult job. [clears throat] Whenever the ILT is around, that means that change is in the air. And it takes a special kind of leader to make people feel safe and comfortable in making improvements to their practice. First, I would like to introduce our curriculum supervisors, Julie Sheepard and Amy Arnissa. You know them. Um, they are my right and left hand. They oversee the reading and math curriculum and instruction and are in classrooms providing support, feedback, and collaboration on a daily basis. They plan professional development, reflect on the needs of their department, and support teachers in continuous improvement. We've had great gains in both reading and math, and if it weren't for these two ladies, we wouldn't be where we are today.
008In fact, I got an email from Denise Seesi this week, consultant at the CSTE, regretting that she was not able to do walkthroughs with us last week because her husband just had surgery. She was made aware of our work because the woman that we have partnered with, Dr. Dr. Tara Lobin of TNTP, which is a national educational [clears throat] nonprofit that provides research and policy support to states nationwide, has told her that we are one of the districts that is a model for the roll out of the reading curriculum. We've spent hours analyzing, diagnosing, problem solving, and preparing interventions. They have sought out curriculum solutions in both reading and math and have developed teams to pilot and provide input in the process. The result of them of that has been an outstanding curriculum roll out
009with very visible gains. These women are strong leaders. They understand teaching and teachers, especially the ways in which adults learn best. They advocate strongly for resources, especially Julie. [laughter] >> She's my most expensive coach. >> Someone >> Yeah, she did. [laughter] Um, and they have demonstrated results. They never flinch when I show them the new district improvement plan every year and are ready and eager to implement new strategies to improve student outcomes. It is my honor to work with them every day. The truth is that the work of an instructional leadership team is never done. Until 100% of our students are not only successful academically, but also well-rounded people ready to enter their world. Our work is not done. Now, please join me in recognizing our instructional coaches, Christa Scallow. raise your hand. >> Sarah
010Galotti, Erica Ballas, and Graham Jerry, who was not able to be here tonight. These professionals are key to highquality individualized professional growth in our district. Oftentimes, people that don't work in school do not understand the importance of instructional coaches. These are people that are in classrooms working with teachers, providing resources, guidance, and individualized support. We are a district that believes deeply in continuous improvement and we have teachers of all experience levels. To grow, teachers need professional development that begins where they are and pushes them forward. And that means something different for everyone. Connecticut has recently revised its teacher evaluation plan with a heavy emphasis on teacherdriven professional development. Our instructional coaches are the key to this strategy. They are the mechanism through which we meet this mandate by implementing coaching cycles. The coaches work sidebyside
011with teachers to provide the intensive individualized professional development required by the state plan. They support teachers with planning and resource acquisition, providing highquality resources to use in the classroom, thereby saving our educators valuable time and boosting efficacy. The recent NES report specifically highlighted the significance of our growth culture, noting that leaders encourage teachers to take risk in the classroom without fear of failure. Our coaches are essential to making this environment possible. The success of our ILT is built on trust. Coaches are intentionally non-evaluative. They have built a relationship with our staff that allows teachers to feel safe in taking risks in the classroom and openly discussing their professional challenge, which is a prerequisite for true substantive professional growth. Outside of the classroom, our coaches ensure our dedicated time in PLC's and data times data team
012is highly impacted by joining PLC meetings for data analysis and supporting curriculum development. Leading data teams focus on rigorous and relevant instructional practices and planning for targeted small groupoup instruction. Teachers h helping teachers create pre and post assessments to track student progress and overseeing our intervention program and interventionists ensuring that those working with our students who need the most support are receiving highquality interventions. They foster a growth mindset among teachers by modeling lessons in classrooms and taking small groups of students to demonstrate effective strategies and providing the push and support that encourages teachers to take risk in the classroom. These are the teachers that Amy, Julie, and I train to provide expertise. Their [clears throat] job is to work with teachers and use the skills they have to improve teaching and learning. The work of
013the ILT was not only identified by us as a strength, but I would argue as one of the most vital components of our success as a district. Julie, Amy, Christa, Sarah, Erica, and Graham, thank you for your dedication, your experience, and your commitment to teachers and students of Cromwell Public Schools. We are profoundly grateful for the vital role you play. >> [applause] >> We have a great leader. >> Couldn't do it without her. >> Thank you all. Last meeting we met and we got to look at some of the phenomenal test scores and just the tremendous, you said visible gains, but they were clearly visible gains and we are so appreciative to all of you for all the efforts that you put into helping our teachers be the best teachers that they can be so
014that our students can achieve the successes they're achieving. >> And behind closed doors, we talk often about how we have a mighty feet in front of us this year >> to outperform >> ourselves. set the bar high. So now >> that's what we always talk about. I'm like, "Okay, you did it to yourself. [laughter] >> Now we've got to keep it up." So yeah, but these people really they're the they're the quiet people that work behind the scenes. They do they do so much work and they're not in the forefront. They're not in front of the students, you know, all the time. And um but they are really doing all of the work from, you know, it starts at the district level and then it trickles down. And it's these people that are really getting
015into classrooms and working side by side with teachers. So I am so incredibly proud of the team that we have. >> Thank you. Anybody have any comments? Mrs. Russ, >> um I know that they don't always work in front of students, but I know some of them have worked directly with students in the past and it's been out of, you know, not necessarily what's in the curriculum or anything else. They've gone out of their way and above and beyond. Um, I know in particular Erica Balis has helped out um one of my kids. Um, so I I'm sorry, Sarah Galott has helped and Erikica Balis have both helped out my kids in in their different areas. So, um, and when and when Sarah helped out, just so you know, my kid had a day off
016today and they sat and read all day long because they were highly encouraged with the work that you did and the other one that Erica kind of advocated for [clears throat] um, is now ex excelling greatly in college and in that in the math. So, thank you to both of you for everything that you have done because I do know that you do sometimes work directly with students. >> So, those not just those in need, but those that are excelling. So, thank you very much. >> Any other comments? >> No, Dr. Machi, >> Of course. This is my jealous moment because I used to be Carrie. Um, and it is just the most exciting work that we do in a district. And it's not um without I mean obviously we don't we have Graham which
017we all know um as a male but it's so important for Jillian and for Summer to see that you have some really incredibly brilliant women up there leaders and the way they got there was to grow each other. Um we all started in the classroom. We saw something really special in each other. One of us saw something special in another one and then someone saw something special in another one. And um we built upon each other's skills and that's why these incredibly brilliant women are making such a difference for all of you in your education. So I think it's really important for women leaders to see each other in those roles and to build each other up. And for that I am incredibly proud and incredibly grateful for all the work that all of you
018do. Um, and I couldn't ask for a better sidekick than I have. Dr. Mlan, >> we we concur. Dr. Mlan, I we appreciate all that you do in your leaders. >> That's what I do. >> And these guys make it easy and fun. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you guys. >> We appreciate you. >> All right. So, the other exciting part of our agenda is that we get to celebrate our students. And we are all thrilled to be able to welcome and recognize Andrew Hudac. I hope I'm saying that right. Andrew, our uh WHIS kid governor, Miss Bington. Yeah. Oh, >> Mrs. Barry. Sorry, Mrs. Barry. >> That's okay. See, already a leader. I didn't even need to invite him up. He knew to come right up here and be ready. Proud of you.
019Um, as mentioned, Mrs. Bennington unfortunately couldn't be here tonight. So, I am honored to present our kid governor on her behalf. Good evening, members of the board of education, Superintendent Mackrie, Assistant Superintendent McClean, and members of the Cromwell community. It is my pleasure to introduce an exceptional fifth grade student from Woodside Intermediate School, our 2025 2026 school kid Governor, Andrew Hudac. There's more. Earlier this fall, our fifth graders participated in the Kid Governor Program, a statewide civics initiative that empowers students to identify an issue they care about and propose a platform to improve their community. Among a strong field of thoughtful, passionate candidates, Andrew stood out, not only for the clarity of his ideas, but for the heart behind them. Andrew's platform centers on a simple but powerful vision, incorporating a weekly 45minute life skills
020class in every Cromwell school. His proposal imagines a class where students learn essential hands-on skills such as cooking, sewing, basic home care, and other practical tasks that support independence and confidence. To bring this idea to life, Andrew suggested partnering with parents, caregivers, and community members who could volunteer their time and expertise. He also proposed fundraising within the community to support materials and supplies, demonstrating not just creativity, but a genuine understanding of what shared responsibility and community involvement looks like. Andrew is the kind of student who inspires others. At school, he is a standout alto saxophone player, and his teachers describe him as creative, quick-witted, and a true team player. They consistently highlight his kindness, his willingness to help others, his strong work ethic, and the responsibility he brings to everything he does. Andrew strives to
021include everyone, and he approaches each challenge with maturity beyond his years. In short, Andrew is exactly the kind of young leader we hope to nurture in Cromwell. One who sees a need, imagines a solution, and brings people together to make it happen. This evening, I am proud to share with you Andrew's official Kid Governor video submission. It is 2 minutes 8 seconds, and it beautifully captures both his platform and his passion. At this time, I'd welcome you to view the Kid Governor campaign video. And I have a question for you. Do you think that if you left your parents house right now, you could survive on your own? I personally think I cannot. I don't know how to cook my own meals. I don't know how to earn money and manage it so I can
022have fun and get a job. But school the way it is now going to teach us how to do them. It's not part of the classes we do every day. You may have had something like a Friday funday that teachers may have tried to teach you something, but that wasn't always necessary. Sometimes there's just fun stuff. Where can we learn how to really live daytoday? Did you know our town offers a staying home alone safety class, a babysitter safety, CPR class? If the town believes we need these classes and our parents think we need these classes, why don't we learn these things at school? My name is Andrew and I want to be the next kid governor because I want to bring life skills classes. We can do this by starting to use what we
023already have recreational programs for 45 minutes. We can make life more by getting the town and family to teach a class. During that, you will raise for a permanent life skills class at every school. This step will be a lot of hard work, but you will not be alone and you will finally after months and months, you will have a permanent life skills class that will be teaching you many things like cooking, sewing, and many more. The class will happen once a week. Vote for me. A vote for me is a vote for our future. So vote for me and [applause] do you want to share anything with us? No, thank you. All right. You already did a beautiful job in your video. Well done, Andrew. >> Congratulations, >> thank thank you. [laughter] Thank you,
024Andrew, for raising this very important issue and for representing us as our Cromwell governor this year. Um, give us a lot to think about because those are very, very important lessons that every young adult, every student should learn. And um I think most parents would concur that we would love for our kids to learn how to cook and how to clean and how to do some of those really important life skills. I know we do personal finance, but I don't think we go much further than that. So, thank you for for raising that and for sharing it with all of us. Anybody else have any other comments, questions? Mr. Zabroski, >> Andrew, at the risk of putting you on the spot here, I have to know. You did such a great job speaking, especially in
025the first part of that video. Did you have Q cards or did you memorize it? How did you do that? >> Sorry to put you on the spot, buddy. >> I had a laptop with my speech on it. And what I put on there, someone was close enough and the font was big enough where I could read it right off of it. Sometimes it was difficult and I had to improvise. And as you saw in there, it had a cut area where like we would pause, we'd go over it and we'd be like, "Okay, we have this part. We have to get to another part and like when my part was very long in one of them, I put my hands behind my back, which was a signal to the person who was holding my
026laptop to go down so I could read the rest of it. And in part of it, I was improvising. Other parts it was just I was reading right off it. Sometimes the glare would from the sun would mess it up. So that's how I got it. >> You're a very natural speaker. It's great to see. Good for you. >> All of us. [laughter] >> Seriously, you could teach people public speaking skills. That was impressive. >> Good. >> Congratulations, Andrew. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you so much, Andrew. Okay. Um, we have reports of the leaison to town council, board of finance, building committee. I think I I can't seem to get into that reference a link. I don't know if anybody else can, but mine is not looks like it it's not working. Okay.
027So, we do have a report from the building committee, but I think slam, are you are you are representative to the building committee? I I certainly will be. Unfortunately, I wasn't there last week because I was on business travel. >> It's okay. We have a written report. >> Yeah. And it I I did read the meeting minutes. The report well represents what the what the committee went through. >> Okay. So, everybody has that as reference A and we'll just figure out why that link isn't working. Um I know later in the agenda I need to formally appoint liaison for town council, board of finance, and the building committee. But in the interim last town council meeting, anybody attend the last town council meeting that wants to report? Okay. How about board of finance? I know
028board of finance had a very short meeting. >> I can fill you in. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ross. >> Um, board of finance had about a maybe five minute meeting. They are looking to elect a board chair and they are split 33. So, they have 30 days to make a decision and um if it does not come through, so they're not expecting anything to change, then it will go to town council to do the deciding vote on who will become the board of finance chair. So, they're kind of at a holding period right now. >> Thank you. Okay. So, we will wait until next meeting and we'll have official liaison and we'll have more to report. Um, on to our student representatives. So, Summer and Jillian, I don't know which one of you is gonna
029go first, but welcome. And we'll turn it to you. Okay. Okay, it's on. I can't see that light. Um, the student council holiday food drive was an enormous success. As usual, Mrs. Pavick's classes won by a landslide. Uh, me and Summer went out and counted. It was like 20 to 100 uh items. It was a lot. Um, so special thanks to Miss Pavick. It took like a team of like 10 people and so many trips to get it all out to the car. It was really nice to see that many people showing support for the community. Um, the student council again is now hosting a toy drive to benefit Connecticut Children's Medical Center. Thanks to Jack Mando and the Mandigo family for their continued partnership in this endeavor. Uh CMS student Gabby Colloj Talk, I'm
030sorry, I don't know how to say it. Um in conjunction with St. Vincent Japal has organized a clothing drive at CMS to benefit the needy around the world. Students are asked to bring in any items that would help warm that would help warm up those in need during these cold months, including coats, hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, boots, and sweatshirts. On December 12th, Cromwell Public Schools will host a PJ day to raise awareness for childhood cancer. Students are encouraged to donate a dollar each. On that day, robotics club is meeting three days a week with a larger crew than usual. This year, there are two separate teams consisting of the new members and the members from last year. Um, each of which are building their own robots. So, this year we have two. Uh, both of
031which are going pretty good so far. Uh CMS drama club rehearsals for the production of Alice in Wonderland have begun. Miss Sales and Miss West Herszog are excited to invite the stage crew to join rehearsals in January. Stage management stage management team has been there every rehearsal so far taking attendance and collecting forms. Um I've been there uh and I have a really good team this year. Things are going well. Uh we're excited. We're working on lines. Yeah, everything's set. >> Oh, shoot. Yeah, world language. Uh uh oh. Um pouncing on summer here. Uh world language club met on December 4th to learn about St. Nicholas Day, which I assume is similar to Christmas in some way. Um and which is also celebrated on December 5th and 6th. The club will meet again to study
032the traditional foods of the many holidays celebrated at this time of year. The CMS band and winter concert will be held on Wednesday, December 10th. Selections, including Slave Ride in the Chipmunk Song, as well as on December 12th. CMS students will have the opportunity to play in a combined winter concert with Carmel High School students. CMS chorus will perform an evening concert on January 14th as well as Jasmine and jazz band is practicing for their performance later in February. CE ski club, oh my goodness, is hoping to recruit additional members for the coming winter seasons. The writing club plans to meet on Tuesday, December 9th, and students are excited to share their creative stories. For sports, boys basketballs. After falling to Burlin and Rocky Hill in their first two games of the season, Calvin Forest,
033Jake Barton, and the CMS boys basketball team hope to rebound under the leadership of coach Budsick. For the girls, Briana Roma, Kayla Morrisy, and the rest of Dr. Bosworth, Dr. Bosworth's basketball team will also be looking for their first win of the season when they face off against Ram on Thursday. >> Thank you. Well done, Jillian and Summer as always. Thank you. Any comments, questions for our representatives? Mrs. Russ, >> um I'm not sure if you are if you know the answer, Summer, but are the concerts that are being held, the one tomorrow night and well, the combined one with Croml High School, I believe, is here, but are they doing that concert tomorrow night in the new auditorium? >> I believe so. >> That's exciting. All right. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? I'll
034just make an observation because I absolutely loved Jillian in your presentation. You talked about a toy drive for CCMC, a clothing drive, and donations to support cancer research. So, it just really impressed me that we are teaching our students so much about citizenship, about community engagement, about philanthropy, and really about caring for and giving to others that are less fortunate. So, thank you for sharing that with us. >> Yes, please. You are recognized. Um, thank you. And the, uh, warm clothing drive, that is something Gabby, I know, has been doing for years. Uh, she is not prompted to do this. She is doing this all on her own time. She's organizing this herself. Like, she's the leader of this. So, just a special shout out because this is a lot. And I'm pretty sure she's
035been doing it since at least sixth grade. So, thank you for telling us that. And perhaps we can think about recognizing those students that have really taken the lead in some of those efforts at a future meeting because that's pretty incredible on top of very busy class schedules that they are really putting their hearts and their time and their effort into helping others. So, thank you for telling us about that. Any other thoughts, comments, questions? Okay, thank you so much. Um, town collabor collaboration updates. I don't think we have any. So, I think we can move on to superintendence updates. Dr. McCary, I will keep it brief because most of um our time right now is being spent on putting together the budget. Um we obviously are looking on ways to improve um our presentation
036and we're also looking at adding lines and maybe changing um things so that it makes more sense to the public. Um and Mr. But will will explain a little bit more when he provides his presentation. So we've been meeting with departments, schools, reming to look at at at some lines and and um we'll continue to do that right until we present on January uh 20. You should get your books the week um or a little bit earlier than the week before that meeting so that you can um go through it all. Also, you just heard Jillian and Summer. Everyone is preparing for their winter concerts and their shows. And again, January 14th, I just want to always remind you and you'll get a letter as well um is when we're going to dedicate the auditorium
037to my Kimi. Um so, I would love for everyone to be there. It's going to be a very special um evening and um we have been kidnapping our administrators uh for long professional development times um so that they are very much aware of what's going on through the ILT so that it's funneling into the school administrators and they know what to look for when they're walking into classrooms with um Dr. MLAN and all the supervisors. Oh, sorry. Instructional leadership team. Sorry. And PLC is professional learning community. [laughter] >> So, we'll get there. Sorry. >> Just so you know, some of us spent all day at CAB and we got a whole long list of acronyms that we are supposed to remember, but without our cheat sheets in front of us, it's helpful to know. >>
03833 years. I don't even know if we know how to speak. Some of them we probably can't even tell you what they stand for. [laughter] We just know what they mean. Um but yes uh that's what we've been doing. Other things I just sent to you on a weekly update but also know there are a lot of things I can't share with you in weekly updates because by the nature my job is confidential for the most part but I try to share all the positive and happy things with you that are happening. Thank you Dr. Macher. Um okay so on to the exciting uh portion. Where's Mr. Butwell? We're very excited about our budget updates and budget process presentation and uh I think Dr. McCary built this up now so that we're really we're really
039excited about how we're going to you're going to demystify this process for all of us. So, thank you. >> So, I feel like I should do a drum roll for you. >> Thank you, Dr. McCree. [laughter] >> Um I'll just follow the agenda which has the the budget update first. Um not really much to report on this month's report. Um we're moving along smoothly. Um sort of our usual we're watching our usual areas um which tend to um go over budget in this case pupil services um and transportation uh but in general looking very solid uh throughout at this point in the year. It's okay. I was just pausing for you to reflect on the projection. [laughter] >> Thank you. Any questions on this month's projection? Okay. If not, I'll go on to the the
040budget process overview. I think you'll find the first hour very exciting. [laughter] joking. [laughter] >> I've boiled it down to 10 slides. So, I'm very happy. And the first one is a title page. So, um this is just our budget timeline which you saw earlier um this year and we're in the midst of it right now, but basically um as Dr. Machi already mentioned um we're busy meeting with each of the the buildings and the departments within the district to understand their budgeting needs for the upcoming year, reviewing expenses and um you know trying to make our best uh predictions and projections for the upcoming year. Um what are the revenue sources for our school's uh budget? Most of it comes from the local the town of Cromwell. Um, we do of course receive state
041and federal aid and um a few smaller um revenues that come into the district such as tuitions. If you have questions along the way, please feel free to stop me. Yes. >> Nice. Um, >> thank you. Um, under the other district revenues, if we receive donations or say grants from private institutions, private companies, is there a process to do that for the board? Um, >> um, as far as donations go, um, those usually, you know, Dr. Mach is informed that of those donations. Um, we'll usually notify the board when that happens. Um, usually the donations are, you know, earmarked for a specific need or area. Um and so we'll um you know we'll make sure that that money is put into the correct accounts. Um it is of course we're audited each year which not
042everybody knows but every school district every year is audited and so um you know we have to keep very uh careful detailed notes about where things go and where money came from and what we ended up doing with it. >> Okay. Good. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Process you could keep them coming. [laughter] very few. >> Um just a reminder that the budget for the Cromwell public schools pays for everything um that we need to provide education to our students and they sort of fall into big buckets of you know certified and non-certified salaries and benefits um providing student services um instructional and of course non-instructional supplies transportation and of course maintaining our facilities. >> Mr. B I think Miss Mattie has a question. Let me just ask you a quick question. Sure. I
043think everyone can hear you. >> The only way that we folks that are watching can hear you is if you're my son >> to prog. >> When will the teachers come up for um or have they recently come up for their new contract? And is it normally a three-year contract? >> I got it. It's it's actually on our agenda to approve later today. So, we'll look at the details of that contract in um executive session and approve that contract and we can go through all that this evening. >> But will it be 26 to 29? Is it a three-year contract? >> Yes, three years. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> And usually always actually one member of the board of ed sits on every um team that does negotiations for each of the bargaining units.
044So, we have input and are involved in the process. >> Okay. Um, of course there's many components to the budget, but um, probably the the biggest are salaries and benefits. Those are uh, a key driver. Um, they're determined by collective bargaining agreements. And so um, you know, it's it's really non-negotiable in terms of um, what we must pay and what benefits we must offer. Um, of course, those benefits and costs increase annually and um, they make up about 75% of our budget, salaries and benefits. Um for other reasons, our special education costs is another driver. Um that more so because it's challenging to um project the needs for tuition and services and transportation, you know, a year ahead of time. Um we have a changing student population that um who who require services. So um
045students who may not be with us right now um could appear in our district next year and require services. Um and also we um have inconsistent reimbursement from the state and so that percentage that we get reimbursed at is sort of a moving target at times. We talked a lot about that last year. Um depending on what month it was I was giving you a different percentage on what we were anticipating with that. Um this is how the budget is organized. Um first by location or category. So on the left you'll see um sort of all the different areas and departments that the budget is broken into from physical places like ECS and Woodside to um more uh mysterious things as such as capital outlay. Um and then within each of those areas um they
046they produce a budget um in a different category known as an object. So, um salaries or benefits or um insurance or travel or tuition depending on whatever they need to run that that area or that program. When we create the budget, first we sort of we deconstruct it um and we have each area or location build their own budget and then we put it back together. So here's an example of um a summary of one location which is from the central office budget. Um you'll see at this page um this page appears at the beginning of each sorry a page like this appears at the beginning of each budget budget session for each location or department. It will show the actual amounts spent during the previous year which is that left-hand column that says 23
047this is last from last year's budget also. uh so 2324 actual and then it will show the adopted budget for the current year and then the pro proposed amount for the upcoming year as well as um ch changes in amounts and corresponding percentages. So you can see that for this um central office budget we have objects in 330 which are legal ser uh other purchase services such as legal services 540 advertising and printing 580 travel um other purchase services other supplies 739 non-instructional equipment and 810 the category of dues and fees which I highlighted because we're going to go take a quick deeper look at that. So, if you drill down to the 810, you would see um all the dues and fees that the central office is anticipating paying for the upcoming year. And
048you can see that's compared to last year's um prices as well. And you know, any possible changes once we um once each area completes their um their budget, we put it all back together and create the district budget. So this is the district budget summary which um is sort of like the front page of our of our um Cromwell public schools budget and you can see all those objects on the left there and then um again these are now total amounts across the district that we'll be spending um in each of those areas and then of course the the difference in last year's spending and or last year's budget and the upcoming budget in the corresponding percentages. is and we look forward to working with all of you to approve the budget for the upcoming
0492627 school year. >> Thank you, Mr. Butwell. >> My pleasure. >> This was very helpful helpful to me. I hope helpful to others. Any questions, comments? Miss Maddie, >> after having >> You got to turn on your mic. Oh, it is on. Oh, good. Oh, after having spent from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with Cab and it was incredible, a little overwhelming, um I have to say over and over again, each speaker said, "If you need any help with any part of the budget, with any I mean, I learned more about special education and the costs. I really wish um not I mean I was always probudget but I really wish I had known this years ago so I could tell my neighbors and friends that there's so little control over that special education budget
050and it can really just crush um what you were planning on on having in spending. But uh over and over again every speaker said we are here for you. we are here to support you if you need information. Now, you probably know all this, but I thought that was kind of cool that they wanted us to know that um they're right behind boards of education to help them with whatever budget and they knew they talked a lot about budget as well. >> That's fantastic. Yeah, there certainly is a lot of information within a budget and um I'm glad that you have >> their support and you certainly have ours as well if you have any questions as we go through the process. >> I thought it was great. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. Well,
051we look forward to what you present to us next month. >> Thank you >> for I look forward to it as well. >> Thank you in advance for all the work you're going to put into it, too. >> Then we'll really do a drum roll. >> Or maybe maybe not. >> No, [laughter] you approve it. >> Oh, okay. When it goes to board of finance. >> Yeah. >> All right. Okay. So, we are on to our ESS update, which is reference D in your packet. Thank you, Ashley. You're going to do some introductions. >> Hi. Um, unfortunately, Miss Olirri couldn't be here tonight. So, I am here um to introduce our wonderful ESS team. Um, we have ESS at Creml High School and Creml Middle School and they are going to tell you a little
052bit more about those programs this evening. >> Thank you. Um, I'm Aaron Chanel. I'm the regional clinical director for the programs in Cromwell District. Um, and I'll let my team introduce themselves. >> Hi everyone. I'm Joanne Molink. I'm the regional vice um president of New England uh area region. um just o oversee the clinical and administrative programming. Nice to see you. >> Hi, my name is Amanda Feroa. I'm the regional operations assistant. >> Thank you. So, I know that I have presented before um but I will go over um just a little bit of of what ESS is again on the next slide. So, this is going to be our partnership update on data um with the first marking period. So, um, ESS is a clinical program. Uh, we provide tier three, what we consider
053tier three ESS clinical services here in Cromwell. Um, so that's programming that's going to support students with significant mental health or behavioral needs. They might have issues um in social, academic, or their family functioning. Uh, the students that are the most appropriate for these tier three programs are going to have depression, severe anxiety, suicidal, self harm. um may have already been hospitalized or have symptoms that might lead to psychiatric hospitalization. Um aggressive disruptive behavior, school avoidance, um as well as you know hyper sexual behaviors or substance use. It's not a drop in service. I will say that. Um so the next slide that we're going to talk about is just kind of going to go over the summary for the marking period one update. Um there has been a high utilization of services. So we've
054had 670 total therapeutic services delivered in marking period 1. That was to 27 total students and that was averaging three and a half uh services per student per week. Overall there was a positive impact that there's 58% of academically struggling students were showing significant improvement attendance. Um we had 60% of students with chronic absenteeism now showing improvement. And then the students with disciplines um there was 50% with discipline uh history that were showing improvement as well. So there was an estimated 155 PRN sessions which are crisis or as needed intervention sessions. So the next slide just kind of goes over our snapshot of service delivery and engagement. So you'll see that it does say that there's a total of 1145 total services delivered. So we did say 670. Those are what we consider specifically therapeutic
055and clinical but that doesn't include collateral contacts or other meetings or when our clinicians are participating in PPTs and different things like that. So there'll be many different um services there. So, as you can see, collateral contacts, individual sessions, um, anything that we consider that's nonclinical, but they're still engaged in some sort of case management for the student, family engagements, groups, structured lunches, um, and maybe perhaps like intake assessments as well. So my favorite part with the bar graphs and they can be very confusing is kind of like if you notice on the left uh I'm sorry on the right hand side for example with the attendance you can see like the baseline we always compare students baseline data to their marking periods. So you can see that there is an average decrease in the
056attendance. So we went from 8.64 um unexcused absences to 7.45. This is the average between all of the students though. So, disciplines um sometimes when we're working with behavioral students, they may have a slight increase because we're holding them accountable. Um so, with that one, we're not seeing a significant change at this marking period, but doesn't mean that they're not utilizing interventions to continue to work with those students. And then our GPA performance, you can see that the average was 1.53 at baseline and now is a 2.19. That's it. I don't know if there's any questions that you have for me and the team. >> Yes, Mrs. Lamb, how are students identified? Are is it selfidentified, teacher recommended, family recommended? Do how do how do you get into the program? >> Um well, so our
057team um each school we have an administrative team that meets weekly. So there has to be a referral process that's identified at each school. So usually those there's the SRB team is talking about those students. Those are filtered through administration and it's confirmed in our administration meetings that they're appropriate for the program. Thank you. Any other questions? We got a couple. Okay. Mrs. Russ and then Mrs. >> Were you first? Okay. Um I know I don't I don't love the setup but initially um one of the I think it was like the second or last slide there was a um chart that showed the interaction with students I believe >> the service delivery and it's high in August and then it dropped way it dropped a lot into September and then it kind of crept
058back up for October November. >> So August is going to be lower because there's only like four days there because school started on August 26th so it was a little bit lower there. Um, and then it it shoots up on >> No, it was higher in August. >> Is that for intakes? >> Is it you mean she means weekly services per student? Is that what she meant? >> Yeah, that's um >> is that because it's the start of the school year >> and we do our brief clinical assessments. >> Is there a reason why it dips so much in September and then it kind of went back up for October, November? >> Usually we do see that like when we have our students kind of come back in, they're very they're very excited to come
059back. um especially if they've had clinical services like just beforehand. Sometimes we're doing preparatory work with our the clinicians are doing that with the students. Um we'll usually see that they do quite well and then the academic pressures and other things will mount. Okay, >> Mr. So, I'm going to ask a question just for clarification for folks who maybe don't [clears throat] work directly in schools and are maybe unfamiliar with some of the lingo, but when we're talking about tier three services, can you give a a just a very brief explanation about tier one versus tier 2 versus tier three, even if you just use examples? >> Yes, go for it. >> Sure. [laughter] >> Step in for this one. So tier one for anyone that is unaware that is something that we everything that
060all students can benefit from. So tier one is for all students regardless of ability or disability >> and that's that's primarily led by the classroom teacher. >> Yes. Okay. >> Classroom teacher general education setting. Then we go up in the tiers depending on need for perhaps math or reading. So we'll increase the intensity and duration of the um services that are provided. student might get reading support, math support, counseling, lunch bunch, things like that. Um, tier 3 is our highest level of support and ESS is our highest level of support at both the middle school and the high school. Um, with the highest level support of clinical care that is supported to students. Um, and also includes wraparound services. So, um, any supports that students receive outside of school, our clinicians are supporting families and
061supporting their outside providers to make sure that the care is well-rounded and everyone's on the same page to do what's best for the kids that are in the program. >> Awesome. Thank you. And and if they if tier three supports are not working for a student, that's when we start to look to >> that's when we Yep. we follow that continuum of services that um, you know, is in [laughter] >> I'm just I'm just trying I mean, you know that I'm familiar with this. do this too. I'm just trying to make sure >> we want to go from the least restrictive which would be tier one and then as we move through Yes. So if tier three if a student is unresponsive in tier three or not getting what they need then we would look
062at additional supports that they might need. Um it's not where they need to go but what they need. So it might be a more therapeutic setting, it might be a smaller setting, a higher adult um to student ratio. Um so kind of what that student needs to be successful um for what their needs are. >> Thank you. because I know Jessica wants more. Um, so we have student assistance team. I know it's so hard and you could call me. We could talk all about it. I love I love it. So or call Ash. We all love talking about it. But we have students student assistance teams um delivering MTSS multi-tered systems of approach in every school. And so what happens at those team meetings is that's when you determine with this particular team and the
063team changes slightly depending on what student you're talking about depending on what resources you need and then you make decisions together as to what you need to do next for that student. >> Okay. [laughter] Sorry. Is that Yeah. Okay. You can call us anytime. [laughter] >> Okay. Oh, Miss Maddie, >> does the tier three student is I'm not familiar with this. Um, is the amount of support that that person might get is that determined by hours per week is it or is it more complicated than that and therefore because some of these kids may be getting clinical support elsewhere. Mhm. So, that's a really good question and it's kind of a wide variety of an answer because we have students that are in tier three for academics. So, that might mean that they are seen
064in a small group for reading five times a week for 30 minutes. Okay. >> Um we might have students that are tier three for um social emotional. Um so that might be um you know with ESS that's like a half an hour a week one-on-one and then half an hour a week in a group setting. Um, so it all depends on the need of the student and what they're um what they're requiring in terms of support, be it academic or behavioral. >> And would those students be um coming out of class? >> Yes. >> Things. So our goals, we always want our students to receive the tier one instruction, the general education curriculum first. That's the most important that they're accessing. Um so then we kind of go from there to make sure that they
065are um not missing kind of that direct tier one instruction through u many lessons that are through their teachers. So to the best extent possible unless unfortunately there's a crisis situation that we need to intervene sooner than later. Um but that is always at the forefront when we're making those decisions for our students. >> Thank you all. No other questions. We appreciate you and we appreciate all that you do for our students. >> Thank you. We're very fortunate to have ESS. We're very thankful. They've done great work with our students. Um, and we're we do have great clinicians, >> wonderful clinicians, and they're doing great work with students and families. So, >> absolutely grateful for the partnership. >> Okay, I'm going to move us on because I am conscious that we have a training after
066this meeting. So, I want to make sure to be careful of everybody's time. So, we've got our table of organization which is under new business B. That'sformational. So hopefully everybody has seen that um action item. So I get the job of appointing committee members for our various committees. So thank you everybody for letting me know what you are most interested in and what you feel most uh best suited for. I'll be happy to get this to this Lisa or our other Lisa. But um I will just share informationally for our policy committee. Lori Canwell is going to remain chair of the policy committee. We are lucky Lori wanted to do that because she's phenomenal at it. And the committee will include myself, Mrs. Russ, Mrs. Maddie, and Mrs. Lamb. And then our facilities and technology
067committee is going to be chaired by Mrs. Franklin. Thank you, Mrs. Franklin. And will include Mr. Schuman, Mr. Zabroski, and Mr. Heisman. Um, we also get to appoint a liaison to various boards and councils. So, Mrs. Russ has agreed to be our board of finance liaison. Thank you so much, Mrs. Russ. Um, Mrs. Zroski has agreed to be our town council liaison. Thank you so much, Mr. Zroski. And Mrs. Lamb has agreed to be our CMS building committee liaison. And I think I Oh, I've got all of them except that we also did have um the building and facilities townwide committee passed through referendum in November last month and we have an appointment. So I get to say exopicio to that committee and then we have an appointment which is officially made by the town
068council. However, we get to make a recommendation. So we'll be recommending Mr. Heisman to serve as our rep to that committee and then I'll also sit in on that committee. And I think I've got them all, but if not, I may have to come back next meeting if I've forgotten anything. But just great appreciation to all of you who not only serve as board of education reps, but also share your expertise and your time and your talent on various committees um here and throughout the town. So, thank thank you so much. I know that everybody wears a lot of hats and I appreciate that. And I will write this up for Lisa so that you don't have to, Lisa. Okay. Thank you. Um, we have uh another action item. It's letter D, overview of current
069co-op programs, procedures, and district cost. And I am going to turn that to Dr. Mackery. It's reference F in your packets. So, um, this evening we have Mr. Cuckle and Mr. Lame. Um, we do participate in co-op programs in athletics and we have not reviewed um how we do this and how much we participate. um financially uh with um resources h how much we get, how much we give in a very long time. In fact, Mr. Cuckle used to be in Josh's position and he had a memo to the board of education in 2015 and we were laughing. A parent did ask me um if we could consider um because right now parents if we have students that are participating in hockey for example which is an expensive sport um if we would be consider
070if if we would consider if the board would consider >> um paying some of that um whatever we call it the paytoplay I guess. Yeah it's pay to play. It's pay to play. It's it is that's what it is. But so we want you to have the whole history and then you can make a decision and we got research out from other districts and I'll hand it over to Andrew and Josh and they'll fill you in. >> Um I'll just uh start off with a quick um historical piece and then I'll turn it over to Josh can kind of run through the numbers for you currently. Uh so yeah, it was it was about 10 years ago uh Cromwell High School. We did not have co-ops and hockey was the first one that we ventured
071into and when I proposed to the board at that time uh all the families and we had about five at the time uh so we had more numbers uh but all the families were aware that uh to enter into this co-op with it was Newington High School they would be the lead uh there would be a $1,500 fee per family uh that would cover ice time that would cover essentially everything that they had to do to run the program and that Cromwell High School would not contribute anything to that cost uh families in the hockey community from my understanding is uh you know the club leagues and teams they play in are very expensive. So the $1,500 was almost like a a discount um in some ways. But again that was the understanding at the
072time uh is that they would pay their way for that program. We wouldn't provide transportation. They would provide their own transportation to practice uh and Newington would then take care of game transportation. Uh then about a year later uh it came before the board again and this time it was for us to be the host school. So with co-ops you either are the non-host or you are the host school. For football we ended up being the host school to Portland. They came over to us. Uh Portland took care of transportation and they also uh paid $750 per player which covers for us uh the operation of the system. uh helmets that have to get reconditioned every year, the shoulder pads, the other equipment in that way. Uh and just for part of the program for
073us to sustain the program. Uh so two very different scenarios. Uh again, one being the host school, one not being the host school. And those were the two co-ops that we essentially had for some time until recently. We've added some more, quite a few more uh just due to trying to expand opportunities for students. And I'll turn it over to Mr. Lay now who can give you more of the detail behind the finances that we currently sit at with uh our families. Uh, thank you, Mr. Cuckle. So, um, first off, I just I just want to say that speaking specifically to hockey, um, and really all of our co-op families, um, anybody that has a child that plays sports knows the sacrifice of it and, and all these co-op families, they're really good representatives of
074our community. They're passionate about their sports. And from the co-op hosts, I I hear really, really good things. So, specific to hockey, we have two males and two females. We have three freshman and one senior. Um, the senior is a female hockey player. The females play at Hand of Madison, which is a cost of $1,834 per skater. And the males play at Newington Co-op, which is $1,450 per skater. Um, when Dr. Machir received the email, um, I I soon after had a Shoreline conference meeting with all of the athletic directors. So, that's what you'll see in the reference. And um if you exclude us, four of the schools in the Shoreline Conference um pay for the pay-to-play fee for hockey. Um six do not and we are the seventh. Um so I just wanted everybody
075to have that information. when I talked about it with the other Shoreline athletic directors, um, if the families did pay, it was also something that was kind of already on their radar, something that that they're thinking about discussing in a forum like this. Um, and just a quick overview like Mr. Cuckle was talking about, uh, we also have wrestlers that go to Portland. Um, Portland does not charge us, so there there's no fee for that. Obviously, it's a much different sport than hockey is with the ice time. And then again, we host football. And then, um, later tonight, next agenda item, I'll be proposing to see if we could host Kaggenog as, um, in boys lacrosse. So, do you guys have any questions? Yeah. >> Yep. Mrs. Russ has a question. >> Well, I have
076questions. >> Okay. >> Well, I have a quick question. under your document where it says families or school, >> does that mean the school is paying all of the cost? >> Every penny. Um, >> so there's no there's no split relationships that you've seen where school pays a portion and the families pay a portion. >> There hasn't been um a split. I haven't seen that. But um just in talking to the families and and I think there were a lot of questions this year because three of the four athletes are freshman. Um, I I think they I think any assistance if we were able to do it would be appreciated. So, I don't think a split would be a terrible idea if it's something the board was in favor of and it's something that made
077sense for us. Um, but currently, no, it it's um it's one or the other. And um the four schools pay the entire pay-to-play fee. Two of those schools actually provide transportation as well. Just for full disclos, I was one of those families that paid for a hockey co-op. I mean, it was a great opportunity to do the hockey co-op and it was less money than we paid when we were playing hockey elsewhere. Um, but it still is a significant it's a costly sport >> for sure. And I I think another thing is I think um on the Newington co-op specifically, uh I think several of they're in the CCC, so we just stayed right in the shoreline. That's who we we meet with constantly um that we work with. But I I think several of
078those teams uh their schools pay the fee. So you could be skating next to somebody who paid nothing while you paid the the full freight. >> Well, I we we appreciate that. I think Mrs. Russ had a comment. So >> that's okay. >> And then one more thing, the um the girls price has traditionally been higher because they have lower roster numbers. It's a sport that they're trying to grow in Connecticut. Um last year that really peaked. It was $2,500 per skater. Uh, and it was it was really tough because the team was down to 11 skaters. You really want like probably between 16 and 19 minimum. Um, so they had a tough season. It was a winless season and because there was less skaters to break up the the cost by, they they had
079a a much higher bill than the boys. >> Oh, thank you. That's really helpful. I'm going to go to Mrs. Russ first and then anybody else that has questions, comments. Um well talking about the sports where we haven't charge anything and I'm assuming for Kagenchog um I mean if if we if if it were the reverse and we were sending our lacrosse students down to Kagenchog boys lacrosse players provide all of their own equipment and everything else and so usually it wouldn't be an additional charge to play but most schools charge if the school itself doesn't cover it it's very common for some schools throughout the state to charge a fee to play hockey because it is very costly. ly um even if they don't provide the pads and everything, they still provide helmets for
080them and those those are significant. Um the ice time, the refs alone cost a significant amount of money. Um I think it's just the cost of playing the sport and it is a lot cheaper than playing any at club level. Um so I and the other one um football is the same way. We provide helmets, padding, and everything else. So, it makes sense to me that Portland would charge, you know, have a charge for we'd charge them for each player that comes over here because we are reconditioning extra helmets. I mean, there was a point in time where we had a significant number of players coming from Portland and we still had a good number come in in Cromwell. We we were a big strong solid team, which was great. However, we're providing a lot
081of service and a lot of equipment that goes along with it, which is extremely costly because they do have to be reconditioned every year. whereas the other sports, it's not necessarily the same thing. So, um I don't know, just for our board members, I'm not necessarily in favor of funding this for the students. Um not that I don't want them to continue into a co-op. I'm glad that we have one, but I just think that if you compare the cost to what it is at a club level, this is significantly lower. And some kids still make the choice that I'm going to play club no matter what. I'm not going to play at my high school team even if it is a co-op. So, I am um just in not in favor of supporting this
082funding. >> Okay. I'm going to pass it to Dr. Mackery. >> Just when you make a decision and um I there are things that I just want to make sure that you understand. So, if we did not charge, would if we paid the bill, would more students participate? We talked about this too. So then would the cost increase but then we also talked about if more students participated it would actually bring the cost down because we'd have more students participating. So we don't know right if you >> I could not necessarily not if the team numbers down >> we could we can contribute a lot >> we can contribute a lot of student athletes but if the overall team numbers are low the price will still be high. >> That's right. So depending on all
083the other districts, >> our cost would be high. >> Our cost would still be high, right? So that's something to just consider. Also, um, how would [clears throat] we budget? And I in speaking with other superintendents, this is there's a couple things, of course, what we just talked about and what what Katherine just said, but then how do we budget? Because you don't really know, right? we're we're we can budget for who we have, but if it increases to five and then some towns pay for transportation, which is something we definitely could not afford because it is just so expensive um to pay for the transportation piece. So, those are things I just want you to think about. But at the end of the day, um I'm bringing this to you now because we are
084budgeting. So, I want to make sure that you have a decision to make and that we are budgeting um to the best of our ability when we do our budget. >> [snorts] >> So I just want to make sure I have the action item correct. So we are asking if anybody wants to support a proposal to cover the cost of our students to play but could be multiple or either saying the full cost of co-op hockey for our students that want to participate a portion of the cost. So I guess that's what I will be asking is does anyone want to make a motion in either of those directions? Oh, you can ask a question because I have not no one's made a motion yet. So, go for it. All right. Um, so if are
085there other extracurricular activities where we are funding students to go outside of the district? So, athletics I know is is one area. Are there other activities? Art, music, theater. this is the only area >> off the top of my head. Yes, there might be some outlier thing that I'm missing right now, but >> um >> yeah. So, so the the basis for my question is how do I think through is this equitable for students in the district? So if if all of a sudden we had enough players to field a girls hockey team, would we s stand up a girls hockey team and then we're paying for all of these costs? So like how how do I how do I think about bringing equity into the conversation? I I know budget absolutely is extremely important,
086but I'm just curious from a how do I think about this? >> No, I think that's a really good point. And the other is once we start if we start with hockey does that open the door to many other >> possible areas if we want to be equitable then do we pay for participation in art programs or participation in other external programs beyond sports. So that that's that was the question that I was grappling with as well. >> Okay. So I don't see any motion on the table. So in I'll give one last requ. Does anyone want to make a motion to support our paying a portion of the cost of co-op hockey? If not, we will move on. Okay. Thank you very much for sharing. We appreciate the information and um appreciate all the
087research you put into that. >> Thank you. I think I'm the next agenda item as well with Kagan Jug. >> You keep going. You're on a roll, Mr. Lame. >> All right. So, um, we have a motion on the table for Cromwell High School boys lacrosse to be the co-op host and take on Kaganock as our partner on our boys lacrosse team. Um, currently it's kind of a situation where it would help make the team safer. It would help the program survive. Um, just some background, um, last year we had about 14 or 15 players on Cromwell boys lacrosse. depending on the game, you need 10 players on the field at a time. Um, and what that did is we had to start several freshmen. You put a freshman up, you know, against an 18-year-old
088senior. You have a 14-year-old going against an 18-year-old, it's not the greatest situation. Um, additionally, uh, it's harder to substitute. It's harder to, you know, give somebody a rest, give somebody a break when they need it. Uh, it's a very, very physical sport. Um, so it's something that would be um very mutually beneficial. It would help potentially save the program. Uh, we could host it right here, so we wouldn't have to send any of our players out. Um, and it looks to be like a a really really good situation. Um, the information is is um in the agenda. Um, but hoping to get that approved and I'm here to answer any questions you might have. Uh, I think we mentioned it earlier, but um, on lacrosse we have to provide them with shoulder pads and
089a helmet and obviously the shorts and a jersey which get reconditioned. Um, sure players may have their own gear. Um, but we can't plan on that legally. We have to make sure we outfit them uh with proper equipment. Um, so what Kagenchog agreed to was a $375 cost per player and we would use that to help obviously outfit them with the equipment. Does anybody have any questions? >> Mr. Zaskki. Um, [clears throat] so all right, we would be, if I'm reading this right, and in and what you said, we're looking at a per player fee of $375 from Kog coming from Kogan. >> What are the costs that we as a district would incur in this? >> So, we try to there wouldn't be much. I we try to set it up so the $375
090covers it. Um, right now we have enough uniforms. Um, we may have to buy an extra helmet or so. Um but we just have that fee to potentially plan. Um the reports we're getting is they're going to to send us they believe between two two to four players most likely. Um they've surveyed and stuff. Um but I I feel like we just have to plan and have that amount set um to make sure we have the have all the equipment that's required by CIA ready for them. Um, so I don't see an out-of- pocket cost, but what I do see is us taking that money, using it for the reconditioning cost, and being prepared if this thing grew a little bit in several years down the road. >> Yeah, >> this is Russ. >> Thank
091you. >> So, um, I've coached and had a kid play lacrosse for still playing in college, by the way. Um, the cost of a helmet alone is $300 something dollars. most athletes prefer if they've been playing for a while to use their own. So, it's kind of like a mixed bag of then you add on the the elbow pads, the shoulder pads, they have to wear gloves, it's required, the goalie gear, everything else. So, um it seems like a fair enough cost that would probably keep us covered because like I said, most athletes if they've been playing for years have it, but there are a lot of kids that pick up lacrosse while they're in high school. So to me, it it's not like we'd have to fund or or outfit an entire team necessarily.
092It's just a few here and there. Understanding a lot of the game of lacrosse. Um for boys lacrosse in particular, I do think it is it does get dangerous when we don't have enough players because there are positions that come in and out and in and out. Um and you don't have those and there's even different sticks that are used. If you don't have enough players, you can't really do that. and so you're playing at a huge disadvantage. So, um adding another two to four players to a roster would be a huge potentially a huge impact just on our our our squad alone. So, um yeah, I just to give a little background to people and I am I am all for this one. >> Okay. So, >> Oh, Mr. Schuman, I'm sorry. >> Is
093this just varsity or is there >> is there lacrosse JV lacrosse freshman lacrosse or is it we just talking? So, we obviously as it was last year, we only could field just the varsity team. We could we could barely do that. Um, if this thing grew, a JV team would be outstanding. And then, um, kind of to to bring it full circle, it's also very difficult to to practice with without enough players. Um, but currently the goal is to support the varsity team so we have enough players. Um, but potentially if it grew, we certainly could have a JV team. Um, just over half the Shoreline Conference does have full JV teams, probably a little bit more. I don't have the numbers in front of me. Um, but that is something we we could support.
094Um, and a lot of times they do those JV games right after the varsity games just to get the kids that that experience. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Lame. Is there a motion then to I I don't see anybody else with any comments. So, is there a motion for us to approve Cromwell hosting? Thank you, Mrs. Russ. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Lamb. Uh, any discussion? Okay. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Abstensions. Okay. Motion passes. That is great news for the lacrosse players. Thank you, Mr. LM. I appreciate you bringing that to us. Okay. Next item on our agenda is approval of the minutes and motions for our November 11th meeting. You all have that in your packet. So I will ask for a motion to
095approve the minutes as distributed. >> Motion. Thank you, Mrs. Russ. Second. Thank you, Mr. Sheroski. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Extensions. Excellent. That passes. You also have in your packet. I'm going fast because I know that we're running behind. Uh we have our human resources personnel update that isformational as well as the principal's reports. Informational. Yes. Okay. Um, next in our agenda is our policies. So, there were several policies listed for second read. I'm going to do my best effort to channel Lori Canwell and remember what is in all of these policies, but you do have them linked in your packet. The second read and possible approval for the prohibition of sex discrimination including sex-based harassment um is the the changes are purely to identify the correct contact folks that
096are required by policy to be identified. So that has been updated in your versions uh and it is simply replacing a prior version with different contacts in it. So I'm going to ask for a motion to approve that policy as presented. >> Thank you. Mr. Did you have a question, Mr. >> Question? Okay. Um motion and we'll do a second and then we'll have discussion. Is there a second for that? >> Thank you, Mrs. Russ. And now we can do discussion. >> Okay. So, I wasn't sure the last time we had this uh had our meeting where the right point was to ask um if we needed to make updates. So, I have a couple suggestions that are not material to the content, just more simplify, more inclusive language. So, is this the place to
097do it or should I recommend at our next policy meeting? >> Yep. Sorry. We're just discussing process. If we change anything at this point, it would have to go back to policy and then come back here, which is fine. We can do that. Um, I think this isn't an urgent one that we need to do tonight. >> Um, I don't think >> Carrie just remind me Dr. Mlean. Well, I'm losing my mind. >> I know. >> I'm so like you're here and I'm looking I please I sat there when I walked in the door. Um so can we just change based on language in legislation? So it's really not >> um it's mandated policy. >> It's mandated. If we hold off on it, it's not going to >> I mean >> the next one is
098going to kill us policy, right? So we have an outdated policy now, but law would always trump that anyway. So if you wanted to send this back to the policy committee for recommendations, you could do that. >> I think the issue is a bigger issue about in am I right inclusive language overall. So I think that's probably a discussion we should have at the policy committee level so that we can look at holistically how we reference individuals in our policies if that makes sense and >> I would recommend for in the meantime that we try to get these approved but then we look at all of them and look at our language collectively. So is is that okay? >> Yeah I can I can you can support that >> get behind that. Yeah. >> Thank
099you. Be a great idea because B would be really hard. this >> some of these we have to move because we are repealing. Okay. Um and many times just for um information a lot of these policies are updated regularly because there's been legal changes that require us to update them. So that's >> sometimes the language is so minor but we have to be in alignment. Correct. >> Um >> okay so there is a motion and a second. So I will ask for a vote. So all those in favor of approving this policy please indicate by saying I. I any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay, so that one passes. Um I think we are along the same lines under B, the prevention of bullying and intervention policy. Um this is being the policy is is being replaced
100by our school climate policy. We did talk about this in policy committee pretty extensively. Um the otherformational piece is that most of our policies come directly from our law firm from Shipman. So, they've been vetted and they're used across a whole lot of different districts. So, I will ask for a motion to repeal the bullying and prevention and intervention policy and replace it with the school climate policy as presented. I'm sorry, I didn't see that. Kelly, thank you, Mr. Franklin. Is there a second? Thank you, Mr. Schuman. All in favor? >> Okay. Any um anybody opposed? Abstain. Okay, that one passes. Uh next is the family medical leave series 400 reference P and that is a that is a second read as well. So we are looking for a motion to approve. >> No we
101are not looking for a motion to approve. That's >> yes. Okay. >> Um is there a motion to approve policy as presented? Thank you Mrs. Russ. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you Mrs. Lamb. All in favor? Okay, I can tell I can see you all that you're not abstaining. Uh, last one, use of school facilities. That is reference Q. It is replacing the prior version. Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion. >> Thank you, Mrs. Russ. Thank you, Mr. Schuman. All in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. Excellent. Okay, we got those done. Lori will be so happy. Um, okay. There is no policy committee report tonight. We did cancel our meeting this this um evening as we would not have had enough participation. Um but now we've got new members so
102we're good. Facilities and technology committee there is reference R in your packet. You've got that report. Mr. Franklin, is there anything else you want to add there? No. Don't. Okay, great. Um we have topics for future agendas and possible action to approve topics. So that is listed in your um agenda. I have two that I would like to suggest being added as of our cape meeting today. We had really interesting conversation about AI and lots of discussion about curriculum, about policy, about technology. It kind of fits across all these different groups that we work in. So, I would love for us to have a conversation about how we teach um good digital citizenship. I'm trying to think of all the language that I learned today >> today. Did you just read our mind? >> I
103would love for us to talk about it here. >> We have a district um AI committee that's been working. We started last year and that we're continuing our work this year. Um we're waiting on policy from Shipman, but we are working on guidelines. Um just a quick general overview and we can talk about this more. Um, right now we're really encouraging teachers to use AI in order to help support what they're doing. Um, and we're having some teachers are are using AI interacting with students, but we are really seriously vetting those programs to make sure that they are in alignment with student privacy laws. >> I would I would love to have a more I don't know if anybody I sat in on that session and it was fascinating and I think it and I
104miss Franklin and I were talking about this too. Um, wherever you think we can fit it in. >> after budget would be fine. Is that okay? >> Sure. April. Okay. With everybody? >> Okay. >> And then the other topic that um came up today and Dr. Mackey and I have been talking about this is just a discussion for us to have together about our district goals, strategic direction. We have a district improvement plan. We have a mission statement. We have a vision statement. And it strikes me that we're doing doing all of this budget discussion and the budget is really the most significant policy uh piece of policy that we're issuing and sets our priorities. And so I would love for us to just have some reflection here as a board as to where are
105we? Are we making sure that we're staying focused on what's important to the district and putting the resources in the right place? And we we should all be very involved in what our mission and our vision is and tie everything to that. So would love I don't know where we can fit that in because it's a probably a more uh extensive conversation. >> It's a big conversation and it would be so basically when we >> we won't hit this budget. >> No, that's what I and and when we build our budget it's all built around that about around that just so you know. But it's important I think for the board to know that too and to have some input. Um, I would say we could review all of that quickly with you before January
10620th, but that's going to be a long meeting. But it would give you a a good idea of where we are and and what everything is. Or I could just >> March. In March, you've got ESS, but we just did ES. >> We just did ESS and it wouldn't be a bad thing to take that off and then Dr. McClean and I could really go over >> I'm happy to do it then. Um, the other thing that I could suggest and we could we can do it both if you want to. The best time to do that is in the beginning of the school year because we review all of our like our our district leadership team will meet, we'll get input, then we develop our our new strategies um and then we develop a
107district plan and then from that plan the schools develop their plan and from there we develop our budget. So it's kind of a process. The most logical place would be in the beginning of the school year. I can certainly do like a this is what ours is for this year and then in September present again for what um because that is the most logical place to do it is is in the beginning of the the school year >> and we used to have a board rep which was Lori um that participated on the district leadership team if a board rep wants to if we can find someone that would be willing to participate um >> that would be awesome >> then that person reports would used to report out what we did just like we
108do with the other committees. Um, I know you all work. It's during the day. Um, but that would probably be really helpful. Um, so do you want us to wait and do you want us to do a quick review or do you want us to wait until >> I love the idea of a quick review just so that we all know where we are and then if you wanted to do something more extensive and I will certainly put out a request to see if anybody wants to participate. Maybe you could tell me when the district leadership team meets and what that looks like so that >> y >> people know what they're committing to. >> All right. All right. So, we'll do a quick review of mission, vision, uh, goals. >> Appreciate that. >> Yep.
109In in March and we'll hold off on ESS update. >> Excellent. >> Okay. >> Anyone else have any other topics for the agendas? >> Okay. Um, we'll move on to comments, updates, announcements from board members. And, uh, who wants I don't want to make our new people start. Well, it's okay. Mrs. Lamb, do you want to start? I can start. Yeah, no, no problem. Um, we've talked today, a few of us did attend the CABE new board member training. Uh, thank you for that experience. So, I have a lot to learn. I knew I had a lot to learn, but now I know I have even more to learn. Now, I know what I don't know. Um, but, uh, just a thank you. It was great. It was humbling. It was practical. Um, so information
110that I can use immediately. So, um, really grateful that I was able to attend that. >> That's it. asking. Okay. >> I just have two quick things. One, um I'm glad to see that we're doing work with AI and I just want to make sure that if we're allowing teachers to use AI and the work that they're doing that we spend a good amount of time in teaching our students, especially as they progress through and throughout the high school that they also can use AI as study aids and tools because even if you take an AP class, the college board first thing they tell you for some of them is go on to chat GBT and ask it this question. So, we need to appropriately teach our students how to use it in an effective
111manner and not just say, "Oh, the teachers get to use it, but you don't." That's I've seen that happening across districts. So, I just want to make sure that we're we're we're careful on how we do this and that we do work with students to show them the right way to do it. And I understand the concern about having our students go on to outside sources. So, I I do get that. Um, and then the second thing is is I'm glad that we have our new board members and we've all been committees. Um I now that we're more of a somewhat evenly split board, I was hoping to see some of a mix of Republicans and Democrats um policy and facilities and unfortunately that did not happen. So I'm wondering if some people would be
112willing to maybe switch or change so that we can try to get I mean you you are in charge of a signing so even if they don't want it too bad. There was a point in time where we had to serve on a committee whether we wanted that committee or not. So, I'm just disappointed that there's not a single Democrat on the facilities committee and I'm the only representative on the policy committee for the Republicans. So, um I know that's not how we've always operated our board, but we should have better representation. So, maybe some of you want to reconsider where you're sitting. Um and that is it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. If anybody wants to take Mrs. Russ up on her suggestion, I will be glad to talk with you about
113that. Um, and I will sit in on the facilities committee so that there is some Oh, Miss Maddie, are you gonna say yes to that? >> No, I'm gonna make a comment. >> Okay. >> Um, to what M to what Mrs. Russ was saying, you know, from from the very beginning, so correct me if I'm wrong here, although I have a feeling this is probably one of those opinion things. I really didn't see the board of education as being a group where um clearly, you know, I like the idea that there are more Democrats than there were um that we've increased that, but I never saw this as a committee that would be mostly concerned about Republican or Democrats. Um I chose the policy committee because it's something I would have an area of expertise
114in. as far as the building committee, no one would want me there because I [laughter] would be totally useless. Um, but again, you know, and and I don't know if this is a, you know, a presumptuous thing to say or um I certainly don't mean to offend anyone, but um I never saw the board of education as being gez, is she Democrat or is she Republican? That this is something we all do for our students. Now I realize in terms of um you know uh that the the little boy who wrote the letter about was it was this the letter Enza that you were alluding to? Um I thought I read a letter about from a 12-year-old boy about the fields. That's what we already talked about really. >> That's what we had talked about
115earlier. Okay. Um because I went through that very quickly. Um it seems to me it really doesn't matter where we stand financially on these things. This is something that this boy is concerned about. I was I was thinking in terms of the field that had to be uh fixed, the one that we were talking about. Should the board of finance pay for it? Should the board of education pay for it? Should we split it? Um so just tell me, am I wrong about this? I I would have never even thought to look to see who was on each committee. Um but I mean, if it's >> I'm going to let Mrs. Russ. No, I'm going to let Mrs. Russ respond to that, but then I want to get us back to our um >> updates
116so that we can get to the next couple. >> This is um this is who the town voted for. So, for Republican side and Democratic side, so we should show equal representation. Yes, we're here representing the school board, but to have an open side from both ends. We we have been in general we operate pretty efficiently and and you can't always tell who's a Republican or who's a Democrat until more recently. So we do want to make sure we have better representation for what our town has voted us on for. So we are a mixed board, but our committees are not mixed. So I do think that we should have better representation on them. >> I'm going to look at our bylaws to just see if folks can be on two committees because we may
117have some folks that wouldn't be wouldn't mind showing up a little bit early every time we meet. So, I will check on that and then I will try to do some arm twisting to see if folks want to represent or want to support and share their expertise on two committees because some of you around this table would really be excellent on both of them. Um, and I'm going to move us on to so that I can do my quick updates. I wanted to give a special shout out for all the teachers that take students on field trips. My son gets to go on a field trip this week. He is so very, very excited. So, I will thank Mr. Boura for taking students to uh the Portland boatyard to learn about engineering and just the
118experiential learning is phenomenal and I know that teachers do this way above and beyond their regular work and um certainly don't get anything extra for it. Um and I just am so grateful that they that they do that and so just a shout out to every teacher that um does field trips and and does that a little bit extra for their students to give them some real life experiences. So, if our administrators could pass that on to everyone that you know that steps up and does that, I would greatly appreciate it. So, that's mine. I'm all set. >> I just want to congratulate the Crown High School football team. Didn't end the way they wanted to, but they had a great year nonetheless. >> You did. I think Am I next? >> Yes, ma'am. Um,
119I I'd have to reiterate what Jessica said going to cave today and I know that that was something that had to come out of the budget that you paid for that for us to go. Um, but it was wonderful and everything that was done was very well done. And the cool thing for me was I got to see a colleague from um that I haven't seen since 2012 whom I taught with at Kagenchog and she's no longer there. And it was just wonderful talking to the people um at my table who are almost all from Waterberry and to learn about quorums even in situations like this the the law behind quorums and how we have to be careful when we're we're assembled that if we're talking about our specific board of education um that the
120quorum could >> come back to sort of bite us in the butt if we don't watch what we say. But it was wonderful and I learned a lot. I'm overwhelmed. I'll go over my notes at a later time. >> Yes. >> So, thank you. >> Thank you. It's a perfect lead into our future pre or evening presentation about all of the legal aspects of being a member of the board of education. >> Um, okay. On our agenda, we are we have an executive session scheduled for the purpose of discussion um with the Cromwell board of ed, but I think I need a motion for us to go into an executive session. And who you inviting? >> Oh, and I'm inviting in Dr. Macker and Jess and Michelle and Dr. Mlan. >> Is Jessica here? >>
121This is No, no, that's like um we're doing the um the contract. >> I know, but I didn't. >> No, Jess. No, you could. She's here. >> She could stay if you want her to. >> It won't hurt. Okay, we're paying her. >> Mororrow. Dr. McClean. [laughter] >> Uh Jessica, do you mind staying? >> I said we can invite a I'm sorry. And the motion was Mr. Zabrowski, Mrs. Russ, and all in favor. All right, we're going into executive session.